A local homeless advocate is taking Brunswick County to task for what she deems government interference with churches providing shelter for homeless people.

Local pastor Donna Phelps, who leads Building Hope Ministries and Brunswick County Streetreach, has taken issue with what she says are unreasonable rules implemented by the county that ultimately prevent local churches from providing temporary shelter for the homeless.

A Brunswick County sheriff’s deputy arrested a convicted sex offender at Leland Middle School on Thursday morning, Feb. 26.

A warrant shows 46-year-old Michael Pernell Wagner of Main Street, Navassa, is charged with felony sex offender on child premises. He was dropping off the child of a friend, according to a sheriff’s office news release.

A fox that bit a Leland woman on the leg March 3 tested positive for rabies after being sent to a state lab.

“Lt. Thomas Tolley, shelter director of the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Animal Protective Services, has confirmed a fox that was sent to the state lab for rabies testing yesterday, did indeed test positive for the rabies virus,” Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Emily Flax wrote in a March 4 news release.

An Oak Island woman is accused of trying to rob Walgreens in Shallotte on Sunday, March 1.

Police said 37-year-old Jennifer Dawn Smith passed a note demanding pain medication to a pharmacist at the business off Main Street, Police Chief Rodney Gause said. She threatened in the note to blow up the store if the pharmacist didn’t give her painkillers.

The pharmacist immediately contacted Shallotte police and detectives soon arrived, arrested Smith without incident and charged her with attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon.

Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Unit detectives charged 30-year-old Alejo Ruiz Mendoza of Mount Misery Road with first-degree sex offense with a child and indecent liberties with a child in alleged sexual assaults that took place between January 2014 and Feb. 25, 2015, warrants show.

While most prom nights aren’t scheduled until May, a South Brunswick High School math teacher is making sure Brunswick County girls are well dressed for the big night at no cost to the them.

Cathy Johnson, a math teacher who also serves as the school’s faculty prom coordinator, is hosting the Prom Closet for the second consecutive year at South Brunswick High School. She and her prom committee will open the closet from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 13.